Just what we need; a new religion

I learned on CNN News this morning about Universism a new religion. I checked out their website and while I agree with many of their views I was left with the question; do we really need another religion?

Their main stand is that this is a religion without faith; without any rules for the individual to follow. If there are no rules or guidelines why do you need to belong to an organization? Surely an individual can figure things out for themselves, there are countless books out there and information on the Internet.

This is an organization and the very word implies something that it is organized. If it has no rules it is not an organization it is chaos. I see nowhere on their website where they ask for a donation of money and I applaud that, but when you start to organize meetings etcetera there are certain expenses and the money has to come from somewhere. Before too long this becomes a business.

My question is; why do we have to belong to something? Why do we need a label for our beliefs? The leader of this group is all of 30 years old; it took me at least 50 years to realize I had problems that I needed to address. Twenty years later I have figured out a lot of things, but I still have issues I need to deal with. The late, great Sri Nisaragadatta said “No one can help anyone until they are beyond needing help themselves.”

I will always help someone if the occasion arises, but it is not my place to go seek out people to help, and not my place to force my opinions on others. I live my life by two simple rules:
1. I try not to harm anyone; in thought, word or deed.
2. I take responsibility for my own happiness.
Think about it, if everyone on this planet did just that it would be the end of all our problems. God would say, “My experiment worked. Game, set, match.” And the Universe would self destruct.